10Apr15

The emir of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abdelmalek Droukdel,
has released an audio message praising the jihadist coalition that took control
of the city of Idlib late last month. The audio statement is nearly four minutes
long and it is read while a picture of Droukdel is displayed on screen. The
background of the image shows a jihadist standing triumphantly on top of a
building in Idlib. A screen shot can be seen above.

Addressing the "mujahideen brothers in the Levant," Droukdel says their
"victories were truly grand, and will continue to be grand." But they will be
even "grander" if they remain unified and "refrain from looting." The latter is
most likely a reference to the guidelines the jihadists put in place after they
forced Bashar al Assad's forces out of the city.

Jaysh al Fateh, the coalition that beat Assad's fighters and their allies, forbade
its members from plundering the city. The coalition's guidelines were
reinforced by prominent commanders in the alliance, including the Al Nusrah
Front's emir Abu Muhammad al Julani.

Droukdel wholeheartedly endorses the statement made by Julani shortly after
Idlib fell. The AQIM emir says Julani's words were "full of wisdom," "modesty"
and "brotherhood." The jihadists should make "it the basis" of their work,
Droukdel advises, and they should put "the interests of [their] people and
ummah before the interests of organizations and groups." The "interest of
Islam and sharia" law should be "above the interests of all other entities,"
because organizations are "simply a way to realize the" end goal.

In addition to Al Nusrah, the Jaysh al Fateh coalition includes Ahrar al Sham,
Jund al Aqsa, Liwa al Haqq, Jaysh al Sunna, Ajnad al Sham, Faylaq al Sham,
and others. Coordinating all of these groups' fighters to take the city of Idlib
from multiple directions was undoubtedly a major undertaking.

The Al Nusrah Front, an official branch of al Qaeda, regularly works with other
rebel groups, including jihadist organizations that have their own links to al
Qaeda. But the establishment of Jaysh al Fateh was a significant
development. Members from various constituent groups have called for the
coalition to stick together and continue to take the fight to their common
enemies.

On April 7, Abu Issa al Sheikh, a high-ranking member of the Islamic Front's
shura council, posted a tweet encouraging the Jaysh al Fateh coalition's
members to become more than a joint operations room. The Islamic Front is
headed by the al Qaeda-linked Ahrar al Sham, which also belongs to Jaysh al
Fateh.

Abu Issa argued that the coalition must become "a unified army" capable of
standing up against "criminal tyrants and deviant extremists." The former is a
reference to Bashar al Assad's regime, while the latter is a reference to the
Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that is opposed to Ahrar al Sham, Al
Nusrah and the other coalition members.

Can Jaysh al Fateh's success be replicated elsewhere?

It remains to be seen if the Jaysh al Fateh model can be successfully applied
in other areas of Syria.

Another prominent rebel group, Jaysh al Islam (Army of Islam), has accused
Al Nusrah of allowing Islamic State fighters into the Yarmouk refugee camp on
the outskirts of Damascus. Jaysh al Islam has been battling Islamic State
jihadists inside the camp.

After denying there was any conflict with Al Nusrah earlier this month, Jaysh
al Islam issued a statement on its Twitter feed accusing Nusrah of allowing
Islamic State fighters into Yarmouk while denying entry to the Islamic State's
Islamist opposition. In a separate tweet in Arabic, Jaysh al Islam claimed that
bloodshed between Ahrar al Sham and another faction was narrowly averted
after Zahran Alloush, who heads Jaysh al Islam, stepped in to resolve a
conflict.

There have been regular reports of conflicts between the various insurgency
groups in the Eastern Ghoutah countryside outside of Damascus, where Jaysh
al Islam, Al Nusrah, Ahrar al Sham, and other groups all operate. This rebel
infighting led Al Nusrah to an issue a statement on April 8, again calling for
unity in the fight against Assad. "We call on you to unite your ranks… and
focus your energy on destroying the Nusayri enemy," Al Nusrah Front said in
the message, which was released on its "correspondent" Twitter feed for
Damascus.

Al Nusrah concluded the statement by saying the rebels outside of Damascus
"have an excellent example in your brothers in Idlib and Dara'a." The
reference to Idlib is a nod to Jaysh al Fateh's success there in recent weeks.
In Dara'a, a southern province in Syria, Al Nusrah has cooperated with other
groups to seize territory and regime checkpoints.

Senior jihadist ideologues in Syria have long wanted to unite the various
Syrian factions that are opposed to both Assad and the Islamic State. Late last
year, a popular al Qaeda-linked ideologue named Sheikh Abdallah Muhammad
al Muhaysini even went so far as to criticize jihadist groups in Syria for their
"disarray," "dissent," "selfishness," and "disorder." Muhaysini said the failures
of various jihadist leaders had squandered the blood of the jihadist youth,
who were attracted to the Islamic State, which has "order," but the "wrong
program."

It was not surprising, therefore, to see that Muhaysini was in the middle of
the effort to unite the Jaysh al Fateh coalition. One graphic posted online, and
retweeted by Muhaysini (as shown on the right), celebrated his role in Jaysh
al Fateh while also portraying him as one in a long line of al Qaeda
ideologues.

It was also not surprising to see Muhaysini praise Droukdel's message on his
official Twitter feed.

Droukdel, like other senior jihadists, knows that al Qaeda's best chance for
success in Syria is to have Al Nusrah deeply embedded within the anti-Assad
insurgency -- not opposed to it.

[Source: By Thomas Joscelyn, The Long War Journal, NJ, 10Apr15]

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